England reign over New Zealand’s party

England snatched victory after the full-time hooter to upset New Zealand 19-17 in the final of the third leg of the International Rugby Board Sevens series here Saturday.

It was a dramatic fightback by England who had trailed 0-17 before half-time.

But they clawed their way back into the game to stun the capacity 35,000 mainly partisan New Zealand crowd who had prematurely started celebrating in the stands before the final whistle.

Tries to Ollie Phillips and Rob Vickerman reduced the gap to 12-17. At the full time hooter, with both sides reduced to six men, England mounted a 60-metre attack which ended with Isoa Damudamu crossing the line to level the score.

Ben Gollings, the most prolific scorer in the 10-year history of the tournament, calmly added the conversion to give England the title.

“It’s been a long time coming,” the elated English veteran said as his side pocketed their first title in Wellington.

“I’ve been coming here for eight years now and never quite got there. We looked down and out but we stuck to it and came up trumps in the end.”

New Zealand captain DJ Forbes was devastated.

“We led all the way and to stuff it up like that was heartbreaking,” he said while coach Gordon Tietjens said he was disappointed at the way his side squandered a commanding lead.

“We just had to be composed and not let them back in. We needed to hold on to the ball. It was disappointing not only that we lost but how we lost.”

South Africa, who made a dream start to this season’s championship, winning the first two tournaments, were knocked out in the quarter-finals here after losing a tense clash with New Zealand 0-7.

But they bounced back to win the plate final and take eight points from the competition to remain at the head of the table on 48, four points clear of England and New Zealand on 44.

England did not look likely tournament winners on the opening day of the tournament, finishing second in Pool C after losing to Argentina.

They started the second day in similar fashion and trailed regular sevens stars Fiji 5-10 at half-time in their quarter-final before emerging after the break a far more determined outfit.

They piled on 26 points against the Fijians to win their first knockout match 31-10 and then beat tournament giant-killers Kenya 24-0 in the semi-finals.

But in the opening stages of the final it was all New Zealand, starting with a try to Paul Grant.

When England mounted a charge, Tom Biggs was cut down just short of the line and New Zealand counter-attacked with an end-to-end move that resulted in a try to Zar Lawrence.

New Zealand captain Forbes, playing with a lower leg hairline fracture, scored his side’s third try in the eighth minute.

But England refused to roll over and their four-try comeback earned them the title of the best attacking side of the tournament, scoring 23 tries in all, while Phillips was the leading individual try scorer with seven.

New Zealand reached the final by beating South Africa 7-0 in the quarter-finals with the sole try of the match scored by Lote Raikabula with a minute to go in the game.

They then had a narrow 10-7 win over Argentina in the semi-finals.

The next round in the IRB series is in San Diego beginning 14 February.

WELLINGTON, Feb 7 (AFP)